Ucheoma Onwutebe: To the Harvey Weinsteins in Nigeria

Fear not. The coast is still clear. Forget the recent hype and the fresh wind blowing in Hollywood, exposing the old chicken’s butt. That is why they are Hollywood. Too white and therefore too serious. Such a thing cannot happen here in Nigeria. Have they lost their manners?

So sir, go ahead and ask wanabe actresses to come audition privately for you, clad only in their edible negligee. Those ones? They do not know their right from their left.

There is still time to coerce beauty pageant contestants to make sex tapes for your viewing pleasure, and don’t forget to threaten to release the tapes if they ever refused to defer to your command. They are too full of fright and desperate to speak up. What about the members of your congregation? Invite the unsuspecting sheep for counseling behind closed doors and get her on her knees to do your bidding. Who dares challenge what you do with the powers of your office? Go ahead. Ask for intercourse before you sign the contract, before you offer the employment, before you award the degree. Do it now that there is still ample time.

Do I need to remind you that your victims may not be as bold as Lupita Nyong’o and Rose McGowan to call you out so eloquently? Girls here are raised with a deep sense of our culture; a culture so accommodating that it embodies respect for the elders to the last letter; a culture that forgives predators providing they are elderly men of substance. In our culture of subservience, we are too busy genuflecting and salaaming to mouth off at elders. You want us to bend over? How low, Sir?

We are too busy washing dirty linens in dank closets and if those girls dare expose your misdeeds, who will marry them? Your victims cannot risk the reduction of their brideprice; they cannot risk bringing shame to their families.
Even if one gathers the liver to speak up and expose your gross misconduct, all you need to do is arrest both the brazen confessor and the news outlet or blogger that offered her the platform. Lock them in Kirikiri and force them to retract their claims under gunpoint and ask them to whitewash the mud they have dragged your name under.

Don’t for a moment fear that your virtuous wife would leave your side when the news of your escapades proliferates the net. She would hop on her social media handles and proclaim your name and your love; she would show all the gifts you have showered her from the first date till the last valentine; she would share videos of how you, without fail, recite Psalm 23 to the kids before you tuck them in bed; then she would proceed to rain diatribes on all the daughters of Jezebel and Delilah who want to ruin the home she had carefully built from scratch for 25 good years.

And since we are a people who are quick to shame women who speak up about the ordeals they have endured in the hands of men like you, the victim and confessor would be dehumanized and mocked to derision and may even be driven to the depths of suicide via social media. She would be called a husband-snatcher who is only speaking up because she did not have her way with your fine man.

So panic not; the odds are never against you here. Before our justice system becomes balanced enough to call men like you to book, you must have died and gone to meet the Lord, thy maker. And here is the good part: those women who you victimized would be first to write your eulogy on Facebook. They would admit you were quite a flawed man but there still was some good in you.

So Honorable Sirs, I say to you, Continue. Your cup is not full yet and may never get full.

You have spoken the truth. Really highlighted the problem, now have can we solve the issue? It’s literally breaks my heart that because of “culture”, vivacious predators will be free to roam around. #letsexposethem and #supportthesurvivors

Now we are talking. Been waiting. I was harrassed out of Nigeria. Yes”harrassed out”. I left the Country because getting a good job @ a big Oil company in the Niger Delta meant sleeping with old men whose Kids were my juniors in secondary school. Everywhere I went I was asked to submit. My saving grace was “Partly” that I had citizenship of another country where asking for my booty in exchange for work was highly unlikely. I say “partly” because I wonder if I would have caved under the pressure to Survive and succeed. Would I have been able to reject those “offers” to be defiled if my parents were poor? I have all their names. Dirty People walking around as accomplished citizens. if not for your innocent children’s sake, and for the fact that I did not let any of you succeed!

Now, next time, I will return to talk about the girls who turned the game on the men and have become the aggressors. They demand to be Sexually exploited in exchange for some resource. it’s no longer one sided!

@truth u still don’t get it…since our “culture” will continue to allow sexual predators to roam free due to a lack of an impregnable justice system and my question still remain…….so what is the point of this article?? or is it just one of this online gra gra, indomie article to make women feel better or what or for them resigned to their fate….let me guess u are also one those shouting change and one Nigeria

@flow I am not the one frustrated and seeking any relevance to pat my self in the back ..go and work on your frustrations and women power delusions and leave me..I am not the one that abuse you….my question remains..what is the point of this article since it will continue to go on and on

The point of the article is hopefully for a wake up call Mr man… If people like yourself start to realise that women are worth protecting and not just sex objects because you have mothers, sisters, aunts and daughters then maybe there might be hope for us yet. Yeye.

Please note that Harvey Weinstein refers to anyone who can be a man or woman that takes advantage of another individual because of their influence and affluence. These things happen to both men and women. The relationship could be between same or different gender.

Even if we strengthen the judiciary, what about the cultural vilification of victims. This issue is about power and we sustain the momentum of our gender empowerment initiatives so that men and women can have almost equal opportunities to fulfil their dreams and aspirations. I know life is not fair but as we work towards fairness, people rely on talent and their faith to get things done rather than making compromises. We also need to know God in what expression we know of him for ourselves.

Personally, I have made a commitment that whatever i cannot achieve through God by harnessing my potentials as well as continuous learning, I will let it pass. Looking for shortcuts is also a reason why men and women alike take advantage of their victims.

I have had similar experiences at work where the definition of the job is a ‘Yes-Man’ phenomenon and you will be victimised if you share a contrary view despite the facts proving your right. Same goes for how we treat our domestic assistants at home. These things happen everyday where the Stronger takes advantage of the Weaker.

We need a better version of ourselves for us to root out this evil of power intoxication. As they say ‘Power Corrupts! Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely!’

una go wait taya…nigeria has a different culture o ..where there are no consequences for such things go and ask hundreds of thousands of female university students and others who have been propositioned or raped …

Thank you my dear Ucheoma, you could not have said it any better. That’s how I was told by my mother to keep quite about my own father sexually abusing me because if the secret should be revealed I would never be worthy of marriage and neither would any female in our family. I have kept the family secret to my own detriment and sanity. I really want to shout it to the rooftops and set myself free of this heavy burden. But for our culture and taboos. HEAVYLADENED.😷😊🤐☺️😡😡😡

On this same blog, it was reported a woman cut off the pennies of her stepson which later lead to his death, there was no outrage no single comment…double standards. Look at the calibre of women that came out to accuse him as if they don’t have enough skeletons in thier cupboards…its Hollywood people fuck thier way to the top

It’s cos you’re a dunce naw. Why didn’t you comment there? Why didn’t you share an Essie alarm on the topic. You’re an olodo for coming here to write the rubbish. I hate people like you so much. You don’t actually care about the poor boy whose penis was cut of because if you did you’d have raised alarm or done something but you are so foolish and misogynistic that when an issue arises that involves women, your only response is this useless comment. Get help

The only way to deal with the Harvey Weinsteins of Nigerians is to name and shame them with evidence + jungle justice aka a good beating!. They are everywhere from our neighbourhoods to the offices, schools and churches.

Sad to say, some loose women encourage such behavlour and would even boast about it. Back in the day it was called “Bottom Power”

If women had given cryptic clues on Harvey the equal opportunities sexual predator, he wouldn’t have gone this far with the “massage my back,” favours,